DUmmies Are GO!

When I was a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was the "Thunderbirds," a "Supermarionation" series about the Tracy family and their International Rescue team. There would be trouble somewhere in the world, and, from their secret island base, the IR crew would fire up their jets and rush to the rescue. "Thunderbirds Are GO!"

That picture came to my mind when I read this THREAD from Pied Piper Pitt, in which he issues the "Go" order to his DU crew. "DUmmies Are GO!" I think Pitt fancies himself as Jeff Tracy or Scott Tracy, or maybe as Brains--perhaps even as Lady Penelope--giving the order and sending out his team to rush to the rescue.

So let us intercept the communication from Skin's Island, in Soyuz Red, while the commentary of your humble guest correspondent, Charles Henrickson, is in the [brackets], as we prepare for take-off in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!

Go

[DUmmies Are GO!]

I've been writing about unbelievably bad news for more than a decade now. . . .

[I've been writing unbelievably bad about news for more than a decade now. . . .]

so when the New Year came around this time, I made up my mind to try and come up with something to write about that was optimistic, positive, more upbeat, or something.

[Just a guess, but I'm thinking we'll file this one under "or something."]

It's all been so grim for so long now, with recent events providing no exception - a less-than-half-a-loaf health care "reform" process, underwear bombers and a new nascent war in Yemen, the Afghan escalation, more suicide attacks in Iraq, bad housing stats, bankers running banking "reform" and a bunch of Congressional Democrats whose imminent retirement could put Congress back in the hands of the people who lined up behind George W. Bush like ducks on a pond, which matters less thanks to the stark level of spinelessness evinced by those aforementioned Democrats and their ilk - and the first chore I gave myself after the holidays was to turn that frown upside down.

[Turn that frown upside down, and run that sentence into endless.]

Ha. The term "blood from a stone" leaps nimbly to mind.

[Hee! The term "blog from the stoned" leaps nimbly to mind.]

No soap.

[DUmmies Are BO!]

A lot of the air has gone out of the hope and change balloon. . . .

[Balloon Boy Barack is hiding in the attic.]

A lot of people seem to be stuck in the mud these days. . . .

[Blood, stone, soap, balloon, mud--Pitt never metaphor he didn't like.]

But then I remembered something.

[After sleeping off another bender at Bukowski's.]

George W. Bush's Iraq debacle was still five months away from becoming a reality in October of 2002, but that didn't stop the Left from organizing one of the largest and most important antiwar protests in American history. Washington, DC, San Francisco, and cities all across the nation saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets on October 26 to stop a war that hadn't even started yet. I saw it. I was there.

[The Day When Everything Finally Changed!]

In February of 2003, one month before the start of the Iraq war, the single largest protest in the history of humanity took place. . . . The war happened anyway, because nothing short of God Herself denouncing Bush from the Capitol Dome was going to stop the damned thing, but what the Left accomplished before the war even started beggars likeness. I saw it. I was there.

[The Day When Everything Finally Changed, Even Though It Didn't Change Anything.]

The Left has a reputation, partially deserved, for being a motley collection of scatterbrained, cause-of-the-week, ego junkies who never really get anything done.

[William Rivers Pitt, are you vying for a Kewpie Doll?]

But I saw what the Left was able to do . . .

[. . . mainly because of me. I saw it. I was there.]

So, here's what I think: do it again.

[Just DU it!]

If you're disappointed in Mr. Obama, go back to your anti-Bush roots and put together some concerted activism.

[DUAC! DUAC!]

Organize a protest, or a letter-writing campaign or . . .

[A Letter To The Editor! That's it! Preferably by e-mail, so we don't have to go out into the cold.]

Raise money. . . .

[We're only $10 away from . . . something.]

If you support Mr. Obama and the Democrats, get back on your '08 horse and ride to the rescue. . . .

[Or get in your International Rescue jet! Thunderbirds Are GO!]

The Left has done some truly amazing things in the last ten years, things that took great effort, concentration, passion and will.

[Especially Will.]

As Congressman Dennis Kucinich said many times, you are the one you've been waiting for. He was right. I saw it. I was there.

[You were there alright, Will. You were there BETRAYING Kookie Kucinich as his "press secretary," while secretly pining for the Kerry candidacy!]

Go.

[DUmmies Are GO! . . . Now let's hear from the Tracy boys in their cockpits . . .]

if your call to "go" is ignored in favor of pouting and whining and berating each other instead of fighting together for what one believes. . . .

[I'd bank on the pouting and whining and berating.]

Solidarity. Power to the people.

[Right on, right on. Speak truth to power.]

R E C O M M E N D ! !

[ L E T S P R E T E N D ! ! ]

K&R (Dude can flat-out f***ing write!)

[Dude! Writing! That is like so freaking AWESOME!]

No surprise how quickly your thread dropped...I was hoping that I was wrong and that many on DU actualy wanted to do more than focus on the negative and the drama. . . .

[No, that would require effort.]

Kick

[Pitt has to kick his own thread.]

'Raise money' my ass. We shouldn't give these corporate-whoring bloodsucking leeches a single dime. We'll be busy enough 'raising money' to pay MANDATED insurance industry extortion payments. Up theirs!

[Hee! Hee! Loyal party hack Pitt gets TOLD OFF!!]

Um. I was thinking people should raise money for groups like Progressive Democrats of America, outsider left-leaning congressional candidates or (dare I say it) publications like truthout. I do appreciate your sentiment, tho.

[Pitt in CYA mode. And (dare I say it) "help pay my bar bills" mode, since Pitt wrote this as a truthout piece.]

We WERE there, my dear Will...

[DUmmie CaliforniaPeggy has this "thang" for her "dear Will." She must be in denial about Pitt getting hitched.]

These UnRec junkies have got to go.

[UnRec Junkies Are GO!]

I was hoping you were making the case for DUers to learn to play Go.

[Sorry!]

You speak the truth.

[To power!]

Wow.

[Sham Wow.]

we better gird up, folks.

[Joe Biden does a loin check.]

If I can, I plan to go to tea parties, and counter-protest. We should all try to do SOMETHING.

[Even if it's stupid and useless, do SOMETHING!]

Thank you Will. . . . You were my hero when I joined DU. . . .

[Oh, Will! My hero!]

Will, we need a new Poor People's March. . . .

[Will will head up the Poor Writers' March.]

Sunday kick. Now I have to "Go" and watch the Pats beat the Ravens. ...hope hope hope...

[Sorry, Will, the Patriot Act didn't go over so well. Nope, nope, nope.]

As A Liberal & A Boomer, I Say... Let's UNITE Again! I Have No Idea how to get anything off the ground. . . .

[Good, you're perfect.]

There must be people here who have the "know how" to get "something" started!

["No," there "aren't."]

See I told you William. You are Important ... look what you did with this article.

[You've provided yet another DUFU! Thanx!]